New column in table view: meta / rootUuid

[wroos]

There seems to be a new column in table view: meta / rootUuid.
What does it mean? Where is it documented? What can it be used for?

A column and a value seems to appear after a modal edit. It seems to reference the first _uuid of the case. (It does not appear for bulk edit!). So, it is an indicator that a modal edit/save has been done (even if no data changed). So far, it is only visible in the table view, but not in view mode or data (and SPSS labels) export.

Side note: We would prefer that new meta variables are positioned at the end of the table view (and export) and not mix-up the given and well known order, please. (See New internal variables in SPSS label and in data download - #8 by jnm).

[jnm]

Thanks for your interest

@wroos

Where is it documented? What can it be used for?

Nowhere, and nothing (yet). I’ll file an issue to hide it from the table view.

@wroos

Side note: We would prefer that new meta variables are positioned at the end of the table view (and export) and not mix-up the given and well known order, please.

I understand, and we’ve gone to great pains to avoid disturbing the column order of exports I don’t take the same stance for the table view, seeing as it is purely a UI component and not meant for data interchange with other tools. Please use the column hiding feature to remove this field from view if it’s causing trouble:

[jnm]

@jnm

I’ll file an issue to hide it from the table view.

Done: Hide meta/rootUuid from table view by jnm · Pull Request #4559 · kobotoolbox/kpi · GitHub

[wroos]

Hi @jnm,
I would like to propose to keep it in the table view and even add this column to the data download. This is a good indicator that a case has been edited on server level after submission. At least if it was edited in modal mode. Is it also set for bulk edit? (Probably not)

Or do you have another advice how we can see in table view and export that a case was edited?

A workaround was to check if end datetime is after submission_time (paying attention to local/server timezones)… This is the case for modal edit, but end is not updated on bulk edit.

[jnm]

@wroos

I would like to propose to keep it in the table view and even add this column to the data download. This is a good indicator that a case has been edited on server level after submission. At least if it was edited in modal mode.

Sure, thanks for the suggestion. I’ve added it to [NLP] Persist changes by persisting a "submission edit ID" · Issue #3940 · kobotoolbox/kpi · GitHub.

@wroos

Is it also set for bulk edit? (Probably not)

Correct, it is not. Edits via Enketo follow the OpenRosa standard, where a new submission with a brand new UUID is created, which overwrites the old submission (identified by deprecatedID in the new submission XML). Bulk edits are done internally by the server using in-place XML parsing and substitution, so the UUID is untouched and a rootUuid is not created. All this is subject to change. Be warned that you should not yet depend on the behavior of rootUuid in any way!

@wroos

Or do you have another advice how we can see in table view and export that a case was edited?

No, sorry. Submissions edited through Enketo will have a meta/deprecatedID field as described above, but this is only visible via the API. Bulk edited submissions do not have this marker.

It would be best to open a feature request for a new universal edit indicator if that’s something that’d be useful to you.

Thank you!

[wroos]

Hello @jnm,
would be great to set the rootUuid also for bulk edit as proposed in your Gizhub link. This would be the current __uuid, which will allow to even differentiate between bulk and normal edits…